Method of operating storage batteries



1. L. CREVELING. METHOD OF OPERATING STORAGE BATTERIES, ETC. 7APPLICATION FILED HJLY I3, 1915 RENYEWED JULY 15, I921.

Patented Feb.21, 1922.

jNVENTOR:

l mw STATES P rm-emce JOHN L. cnEvELING; or AUBURN, new YORK.

METHOD or ornnarine s'ronacrn" sarrnnins, E'rcff Specification ofLetters Patent.

' Ap1i1i'cation filed July 13, 1915, Serial No. 39,614. Renewed'fl'uly15, 1921. Serial No. 485,021.

T all whom it may concern;

Be it known thatl JOHN. L CREVE ING, a cit zen of the United States,resid ng at Auburn; in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, haveinvented thenew v andusei'ul Improvement in Methods of 9p cratingStorage Batteries and Translating Devices in Co-Qperation with aControllable w-Source ot'Electrical Potential D1iierence,set

forth in the annexed specification, wherein ,my invention is explainedwith' reference tiv the annexed drawing, to add clearnessin de'scription by means of diagrammatic or sche matic representation ofcertain qualitiesand quantities 'and examplesoit' properties ofinstrumentahties and their mutual relations employed inpracticing myinvention.

My invention pertains to methods of charging and operating storagebatteries and maintainingf translating devices in co-operation with asource ofelectrical potential difi erence; and pertains moreparticularly .to such-methods wherein the Value-or" the potentialdiiference at said source tends to vary and may be controlled. Thedrawing is a diagrammatic or schematic representation portraying-variousquantities, qualities and instrumentalities which -independent of anyparticular typeor kmd may be used 111 pracfunctions given thereto in thedescription of my invention.

In the drawing, the source of electrical potential difference from whichthe system is supplied is diagrammatically portrayed as'a generatorprovided with the commutatorl, having the'positive brush 2 in 013-erative relation thereto, from which the wire m, is carried to anysuitable type of regulatingdevice indicated. at d as an ordinary manually-operated rheostat. for the purpose of indicating some kind of aregulator, merely.

From the other terminal otthe device or mere regulating quality orquantity 4 the wire 5 is led to one terminal of any suitable meteringmechanism or quantitative measuring device 6, in this instancediagrammatiits remaining terminal connected with the manually-operatedrheostat.

ticing my method, provided they fulfill the- 'theswitch 15, theremaining terminal of said- 7 switch beingconnected as by wire '16:with. the negative brush 17 in operative relation to the-commutator l. v

Tlie wire 11 has also in connection therewith the translatingdevicesindicated at 33,

the opposite terminals of which are connected with the wire 18which iselectrically. connected with the wire20 through theiswitch 19 whendesired. The 'wire20 is connected wlth thewire 22. through any suitabletype' of instrumentality possessing the quality necessary to regulatethe voltage upon the translating devices, and inthis instanc'e'isindicated diagrammatically as. an ordinary is connected, asby means ofthe fiexibleconductor shown, with any suitable kindof con tactdevice'or-brush indicated at 23,w hich is capable of being moved'tovarious points upon the surface of commutator 1so 'as-to"80 -maintain' adifference of potential between brushesQB and 17 equal to thedifferenceofpotential between brushes 17 and 2 or a lesser amount as thepositionof brush 28 is brought nearer to brush 17, as will be understoodby thoseskilled in theart. i

The position of the contacting device or brush 23 may be determined andmaintained by operation of a lever indicated at 24, which may be held infixed positions if desired, as' 9 by means of the common latch and"segment device indicated at 25.. .The commutator 1 is preferably ofsuflicient length that brushes V 2 and 23may have their axes in the sameradial] plane when such adjustment is de-- I sired; And if desired, anysuitable c0ntact- .ino; device as 'indicatedat 26 may beprovidech sothatwhen the said 'brushesare in the same plane they may be electricallyconnected with each, other at or beyQndlOO the extremities farthest fromthe-v commutator face; for a purposeWi hich will hereinafter moreclearly appear. The type of generatorchosen' to indicate the source ofelectrical potential difference is, for sakeof simplicity, taken as 'aplain :shunt machine provided with the fieldi coil27= haring in seriestherewith a manually-operated regulating, rheostat indicated at28gmerely for the purpose of indicating something pas- 1 10 The wire i22; 7 5

. supplying the translating devices, and may .be used, if desired, toindicate the voltage ,on the generator side of the translation circuitregulating quantity 21. 32 is a volt- 'Ineterf which may be used, ifdesired, to

I show the voltage upon the translating devices.

My invention comprehends the following mode of operation which s givenas one mode of operation falling within the same,

- for the purpose of describing one in which my invention may be used.

Presuming that the various qualities neces* sary for the performance ofmy method are possessed by the instrumentalities indicated liitheschematic or diagrammatic representation, orthat, forsake of examplemerely,

. we impose upon the instrumentalities diagrammatically portrayedtherein the functions hereinafter set forth, then and in that event theprocessor method may be carried out asfollows:

Starting, for example, with the source of electrical potentialdifference as ineffective, zero or inoperative with respect to the otherqualities and quantities portrayed, as, for example, when we considerthe source to be a generator, as we'have for example in this case,.andthe same has its armature-stationary, then current will flow from thebat tery 8 through wire 7, meter 6, wire 5, regu .lator 4:, wire 3,brush 2, a portion of com Inutator 1, and windings of the armature (notshown), and thence back through the commutator to brush 23, provided thesaid brush be in the position indicated in the diagram, which, however,would be an abnormal position for the said brush 23 under theseconditions, but is chosen in this part of the description for sake ofclearness in illustration, as will hereinafter more plainly appear. Fromthe brush 23 current will flow ,through wire 22, regulatingdevice 21,wire 20, s'wltch 19, if the same be closed, and wire 18 to thetranslating devices 33, which of course may be of any desired character.

7 From the translating devices return is made through the wire 11',through ammeter 10,

if desired, and wire 9 to the battery. Under these conditions the amountof current discharged by the battery in ampere hours may be registeredby the meter 6, and the rate of 'current discharged by the b'attery,thatis.

the amperes at any given moment, will be indicated by the ammeter 10,while the voltbv observin the voltmeter 29. No current will be wasted byback discharge through the switch 15 so long as the same remain open,

in which position it should be during these assumed conditions.

And, under the above conditions, I preterahly swing the lever 24% insuch direction as to revolve the brush 23 in a counter clockwisedirection into the same plane and resting upon the same commutator barsas the brush 2, in which position the contact 26 may engage the wire 3and short-circuit the path through the brushes 2 and 23, and there byavoid the necessity of the current furnished by the battery 8 to thetranslating devices traversing any oil? the armature windings, or eventhe brushes. The voltage across the circuit through which the generatormay supply the translating devices, and between the source and theregulating device21, may be observed at any time by 'means of voltmeter31; while the voltage ampressed upon the translation c1rcuit,mod1- fied,it the same may be by use of the regulator 21, is observable at any timeby consulting voltmeter With the battery supplying the translatingdevices as above explained, it its voltage be above that desired uponthe translating devices, the translating circuit voltage may be readilydecreased or regulated through the instrumentality of either theregulating device 1 or the regulating device 21, in this instancediagrammatically portrayed as ordinary manually-operated rheostats. Itis usual where a storage battery and translating devices are usedtogether, as in this example chosen for description, to selecttranslating devices the normal operating voltage of which issubstantially, if not exactly,

the normal working voltage of the storage battery, so that throughoutthe greater portion of a cycle of discharge of the battery to thetranslating devices the said devices are supplied with but littleregulating opposition or resistance, as at a or 21, and thus little lossof energy is dissipated for the mere purpose of regulation.

With such an arrangement, however, if the battery be of the usuallead-sulphuric acid type, for example, it will, when in a fully chargedcondition, have at times a voltage across its terminals far in excess ofthis normal working voltage, and under some conditions even 25% excess,to which reference will later be made.

If now the value of potential difference at the source, as indicated byvoltmeter 30, be

raised to such value that it is substantially equal, or slightly inexcess of the voltage across the battery circuit, as indicated at 29,and it switch 15 be closed, current will be supplied from the source andwill How h through brushes fl and 23 (it being rememhered that thesaid-brushes have above been cimsidered as standing in the same radial-:plane')',-and thefsource willsupply at least #some of the current tothe translating devices 83, And, if thepotentialdifierence at :tliesource :be-su'iliciently raised, as by in- -,creas1n'g"the' speed'of'the generator armature, the translating devices will not only beentirely supplied: from the'said' source, but current will flow fromthesource through v the storage-battery 8 to charge the samein a well'known manner. 1 nder' these conditions, it/the potential diifer'enceacross the the meter 6. If thevoltage across the source be suflicientthat ittendsvto force a higher charging current'through the battery'Sthan is desired,thisrate might of course-be regu- 5 latedr {or lessenedby regulating resistance 4:.

- However, this-would necessitate. a loss of energy dissipated intheresistan'cet for the ,mereapurpose. of/regulation, whichmy in- Further,with the 'two brushes 2i and 23 in theisame radial plane, the "voltageacross the circuit indicated byivoltmeter 31 will be substantiallythesame as that across the .source as indicated by voltmeter30, and, asvabov'e-Uassumed, sufficiently inlexcess of the desired translationcircuit voltageto charge l the-battery. Of course, the voltage uponthetranslation 1 circuit could be regulated under these conditions: bymeans: of the resistance or other regulating device indicated at 21,

but such regulatingdevice, ingproducing a drop in potential forthe merepurpose of regulating the translating circuit, would necessitate awasteof energy, toward which w :my method makes to avoid; As, during theabove: outlined! operation wherein the battery and the translatingdevices are .both receiringcurrent fromthe source it has been pointedout," that a higher potential- 'difiersence is nec'essaryacross thebattery in order 7 to force-a charging current through the samethan'isidesired across. the translating deyices which at times have todepend upon the battery, I therefore, under these conditions, move the,lever 24 so as to swingthe brush 23 in a clockwisedirection which, willbreak the connection between the wires 3 and 22 as may be established at26', and

press a lower .voltageupon the 'circuitwhose voltage.isindicated at 31than upon the battery charging circuit.

' And, I move the brush 23, as above outlined, to such a distance fromthe brush 2 that the desired difierence of potential is exemplify asource. source. be sufficiently in excess ofthe normal -.;-dischargevoltage of thebattery 8, the bat 1 teryfimayreceivea charging current atthe I lmaximumi desired'grate, as indicated by the ammet'erJO, andthe'current in ampere hours supplied to the battery-may be registeredby.

maintained upon the translating devices with little, if any, loss takingplace in-the regulating device 21, and the desired difference ofpotential is maintained across the battery 8 with little, if any,regulating loss taking place in theinstrumentality 4; and, I

so regulate the source of electrical potential diflerencethat it willmaintain these -volt-' ages for which I have made the above ad justmentsand arrangements. by regulating the device, 'indicated as amanually-operated'rheostat 28, controlling the field excitation of thegenerator herein Now, if-the speed of the generator-increase, say evento double or triple its assumed operating speed at which it has-beensupplying both the-battery and translating,

devices, I simply watch the-voltmeter. 31 and hold the desired voltageacross its'circuit by proper manipulation ofthe regulator'28, and then,throu'ghout all these wide changes in speed of the generator, or'tendencies ofthe electrical potential diiference at the source to vary, thebattery and translating devices will continue to have impressed uponthesame the chosen voltages above pointed out.

Further, throughout all the operation above it will be noted that if atany time the total output of the generator tends to exceed a desiredmaximum, as for examplaits safe carrying capacity indicatedin amperes asby the ammeter 13, I may readilyprevent this desiredmaximum from beingexceeded by properly manipulating the regulator 28; Or, if the maximumcurrent tending to chosen to flow through thestorage battery at anytime, its-indicated by the ammeter 10, tend to exceed a desiredmaxnnum'cha rging rate,

Imay readily reduce this charging current either by manipulating theregulator, 4: or properly manipulating the regulator 28.

And, inthe latter case, if this regulation tend to reduce the voltageupon the translating devices below that desired, I'may,

within limits, readily bring the same to the,

normal by moving brush 23 toward brush 2, and thusincrease the potentialupon the translating circuit, notwithstanding the potential upon thebattery charging circuit has been somewhat lessened.

, It now, while running under any of the above conditions, the potentialdifference at the source decrease, as,vfor-example, suppose thegeneratorherein considered as the source to haveits speed reduced, 1 canwithin limits, regulate for said reduction by so manipulating theregulator 28 as to increase the field excitation. It then the generatorspeed fall until the potential difierence across brushes 17 and 23 isless than that desired upon the translating circuit and if the potentialdifference across brushes 1'? and 2 be in excess of the counterelectromotive-force of the battery 8, I swing the lever 2st so as tomove the brush'23 in a counter clockwise direction and increase thepotential upon the translating circuit which I may hold at its maximumdesired quantity in .this manner so long as the maximum voltage of thegeneratorv across brushes 2 and 17 is equal to or above thecounterelectromotive-force of thebattery. However, as soon as thepotential diilerenceacross 17 and 2 is less than that of the battery,the battery tends to discharge through the generator, and I open theswitch 15 and prevent this back discharge or waste of energy and movethe brush 23 into the same plane as the brush'2 and'cause the connectingdevice 26 to short-circuit the brushes, as described early in thisspecification. And since throughout pa'rtof this operation the voltageas indicated by voltmeter 31 may be higher than that desired upon thetranslating devices, as indicated by voltmeter 32, owing to the factthat the battery 8, which we have presumed to have been receivingcharging current, may have its voltage raised above its normal dischargevoltage, which we have selected as the voltage desired upon thetranslating devices, I so manipulate the regulator 21 throughout thisperiod as to hold constant voltage upon the translating devices 33. Or,if desired, throughout this interval it might be equally easy to performsuch regulation by the regulator indicated at l, as will be obvious tothose skilled in the art. With the translation circuit fed from thestorage battery and no current supplied from the source, the voltageacross the battery will usually quickly drop to its normal operatingvoltage and the regulator 21 may thus serve to hold the constant desiredpotential upon the translating devices with appreciable loss for only ashort time for the purpose of regulation, and then a negligible losswill be sustained.

Further, it will be noted that at any time when charging the battery asabove outlined and maintainingthe translating devices from the source ofelectrical potential difference, it the battery become sufficientlycharged that it is desirable to discontinue charging the same, this maybe readily done 'by reducing the di-tterence in potential across thebrushes 2 and 23 by bringing them closer together and simultaneouslyproperly maniplating the resist ance 28 in suchmanner that the desiredvoltage may be held upon the circuit indicated by the voltmeter 81, andas small an excess as desirable may be held across the battery circuitwl ch excess above the voltage indicated at 31' may be so small as toprevent charging the battery. Of course, the determination as to when itis desired to reduce or discontinue the battery charge may readily bemade by observing a the ampere hours charge indicated by the meter 6; orthe ampererate of charge as indicated by ammeter 10 for agiven length oftime;

or even by taking the specific gravity of the feronce between brush 2and brush 23, asv

by selecting the proper position for 'brush 23, then, asthe batterybecomes charged until its voltage rises, the charging current willautomatically taper off i and be reduced, to

practically nil when the battery becomes fully charged. i

It will be noted that I have shown a rather free distribution ofvoltmetersand ammeters, which has been done merely to show how theymaybe employed in the performance of my method, whilethey may all bedispensed with, provided the: person employing my method have someiotherway of determining the. qualitiesand quantities desired, and which Ihave exemplified as measured by these'various instruments.

From the foregoing, it will be noted that I have invented a method ofutilizing storage battcries, translating devices, and a source ofelectrical potential difference whereby the batteries may be chargedeven to their highest desired voltage, and the translating devicessimultaneously operated from said source with small losses for thepurpose of regulation; and that my method provides for these conditionseven-under widely varying tendencies ot-the controllable source ofelectrical potential diiference to vary. V

I. do not wish in any way to limit myself to any of the exact operationsor modesot operation detailed above for the mere pur-' pose of providingan example of use of my invention, for it will be obvious that widelyditlering operations may "still be within the scope and spirit of myinvention, which is as set forth in the following claims, andindepcndently of any types of instruments, apparatus or devices'used inperforming the functions specified in said claims.

I claim:

1. The method of utilizing storage batteries and translating devices inco-operation with a controllable source of electrical potentialdifference, comprehending charging a storage battery and operatingtranslating devices from said source at different values 01 electricalpotential-difference derived there'irom, controlling said source-inresponse to tendencies toward fluctuations in thevalue of thetranslating electrical potential difference and controlling the chargingof the battery by varying the difi'erence' between the values ofelectrical potential difference derived from said source.

2. The method of utilizing a storage battery and translating devices inco-operatlon with a source of electrical potential difference tending tovary, comprehending supplying current to' the battery and to thetranslating devices from said source at different values of electricalpotential difference, compensating for tendencies in said source to varyand lowering the electrical potential difference at said source whendesired to cease charging the battery.

3. The method of utilizing a storage battery and translating devices inco operation with a controllable source of electrical potentialdifference tendingto vary, compre-' ,hending supplying current to thebattery from said source, supplying current to the translating devicesata lower potential dif ference from said source and controlling theelectrical potential diflerences supplied by said source inaccordancew'vith fluctuations tending to take place in the value of thelower ofsaid electrical potential diiferences.

' 4. The method of utilizinga storage battery and translating devices inco-operation with a controllablesource of electrical 'po tentialdifference tending to vary, comprca bending-supplying current to abattery from said source, supplying current to translating devices atalower electrical potential difference from said source, controlling theelectric-al potential differences supplied by said source in accordancewith fluctuations tend ing to take place in the lower value ofelectrical potential difierences and controlling the charging of thebattery by varying the value of the difference between said electricalpotential difierences.

5; The method of utilizing storage bat teries and translating devices incooperation with the controllable source of electrical potentialdifference subject to tendency to vary comprehending charging a storagebattery the source. a 7

JOHN L. CREVELING.

